CSU East Bay men’s basketball (1-0-0) had the honor of playing their home opener on Veteran’s Day as they found a way to win over the Notre Dame De Namur Argonauts (0-1-0) 63-62.

The game never saw double digit leads as the score lead changed hands as much as the basketball itself. With care not to commit needless infractions and with less than a minute to play, NDNU tied the game but fouled junior guard Gabe Kindred.

Missing both free throws, it seemed as if the heated game between the two schools in their first meeting of the year would go to overtime. However, yet again, Kindred drew another foul with .8 seconds left on the game clock.

Kindred went to the line and hit one of two free throws that would give CSUEB the win, in spite of NDMU’s coach George Puou lobbying with referees over the infractions.

That seemed to be one difference between the two schools. Puou would often be standing on the sidelines animated while calling plays to his squad and arguing with referees, as the cool and calm CSUEB coach Will Biggs, only seldom calling for plays from his chair. Biggs did most of his talking during timeouts. He was happy with the win but saw a lot of early-season mistakes made by the Pioneers.

“Notre Dame, I thought, executed and made us work hard. We tightened up our defense and took away the easy shots as the last 10 minutes we played as solid as we could,” Biggs said. “There [were] a lot of nerves, the guys were anxious but our offensive execution against a solid man defense was terrible.”

Neither CSUEB nor NDNU would enjoy control of the game.

For the first-half, CSUEB was shooting 13-33 (39 percent) from the field and 4-6 (66 percent) from the free throw line. NDNU shot even worse only hitting 8-28 (28 percent) from the field, but taking advantage of a plethora of CSUEB mistakes allowing them to go to the line to make 11-15 (73 percent) of their free throws.

The dismal CSUEB shot percentage was due in part to the excellent play of the NDNU centers and forwards keeping CSUEB out of the paint and forcing them to take rushed shots from the outside.

In the second half, NDNU would start hitting more of their shots as CSUEB played a game of catch-up as one of NDMU’s large senior centers, Wesley White, 6’7” and one of the team’s scoring leaders, fiercely crashed the boards against the outmatched Pioneers.

It was of no matter to the Pioneers, as 6’6” senior forward Nick Marhsall would throw down two monstrous jams to support his team in his eight-point effort.

“We played hard [defensively] and got the ball kicked out to me and got the crowd into it,” Marshall said with a smile.

The scoring story came from senior forward Jurrell Turner, who would remarkably post 18 points leading his team as well as shoot 8-12 at the free throw line and one block.

Playing his first game for the Pioneers is freshman forward Ota Okungbawa, who scored four points in his debut in a Pioneers jersey and spoke to The Pioneer about his experience.

“I was nervous a little bit. After the first half I got over it and had fun.” Okungbawa believed he made the adjustments and mentioned his conditioning was a factor in hanging with the rest of the team on the floor.

The Pioneers would shoot better from the arc in the second half but not the free throw line as NDNU adjusted in all areas excluding three pointers.

Had it not been for the late fouls this game could have been snatched from the jaws of victory in favor of NDNU.